2 R.I. beaches report relief from isopods after wind change

“I would say it’s probably a little bit of both,” said Erik Sotka, associate professor of biology at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. After being alerted to the infestation in Rhode Island, he said, “It looks like the beasts we’ve been playing with for a while. We’ve been comparing populations of that animal up and down the coast. It’s a very wide-ranging species from Chesapeake up into New England.”